The absorption onto hair of quaternaries having long chain fatty portions as part of its molecule is the basis for most hair conditioner formulae. The fatty portion of the molecule which is largely attached to the substrate acts as a lubricant. The lubricating action makes combing easier.
It has been found that hair treated with a fatty quaternary or a conditioner containing a fatty quaternary and then washed with a conventional shampoo containing anionic alkyl ether polyethenoxy sulfate (AEPS) has a deposit on its surface. This deposit is a combination product formed by the interaction of the shampoo anionic surfactant with the quaternary of the conditioner. Thus, it is difficult to remove the cationic quaternary compound with conventional shampoos containing AEPS because of the formation of a cationic-anionic complex on the hair surface. Such deposit is not easily removed by conventional shampoo surfactants, and with continued use of the shampoo and the conditioner, the amount of this deposit or build-up tends to increase.
In the field of hair conditioning, the prior art is replete with hair conditioning compositions containing one or more of the components of the present novel and unique hair conditioner compositions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,055 discloses compositions containing a stearamidopropyldimethylamine conditioning agent and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,149,551 and No. 4,206,196 disclose conditioning articles having a di-higher alkyl dimethyl ammonium chloride or a fatty alcohol conditioning agent on a flexible substrate such as paper and the like. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,421,740 and 4,269,824, a composition is disclosed which employs the combination of di(hydrogenated tallow) dimethyl ammonium chloride and cetyl or stearyl alcohol. U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,722 discloses the combination of distearyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, cetyl alcohol and propylene glycol in hair conditioning compositions. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,144,326 and 4,160,823 disclose similar compositions which include the combination of distearyl dimethyl ammonium chloride and propylene glycol; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,917 discloses a hair conditioner composition which comprises the combination of distearyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, mineral oil, cetyl alcohol and propylene glycol. However, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,160,823; 4,436,722; 4,269,824 and 4,421,740 equate the mono-higher alkyl quaternary ammonium chloride with a di-higher alkyl quaternary ammonium chloride as the effective conditioning agent in their compositions and, therefore, teach away from the instant unique composition which is specific to the di-stearyl and di-tallow quaternary ammonium salts because it has been found that the substitution of a mono-higher alkyl quaternary compound for the di-higher alkyl compounds in the present composition adversely affects the conditioning properties thereof and the resultant conditioning agent is not completely removed by shampooing with AEPS shampoos, thereby creating a build-up of conditioner on the hair.
However, it is noted that none of the above cited patents discloses a hair conditioner composition comprising the mixture of a di-stearyl or di-tallow quaternary ammonium compound, a C.sub.8 -C.sub.18 amido C.sub.2 -C.sub.3 alkyl di-C.sub.1 -C.sub.2 alkyl amine, a C.sub.14 -C.sub.18 alcohol, mineral oil, cyclomethicone, and propylene glycol as the essential ingredients emulsified in an aqueous medium.